It appeared that jealousy was brewing within the Duke Blue Devils’ locker room, and that alone gave Darian Mensah ample reason to look for a better opportunity elsewhere.
ESPN’s David Hale published a piece on the Miami Hurricanes quarterback that clears up quite a bit of speculation. Mensah’s decision to transfer to Miami generated significant discussion at the ACC kickoff last week, with plenty of tampering allegations directed at Mario Cristobal and the Hurricanes. The redshirt junior took the opportunity at the podium to address the move and largely came across as someone who valued his time at Duke and was prepared to move forward, but his remarks to Hale indicated deeper underlying tensions.
When asked about Mensah’s comments, Duke tight end Jeremiah Hasley insisted that nothing was amiss within the Duke locker room.
It’s time for everyone Darian Mensah included to shift their attention to the present
This isn’t meant as a knock on Mensah, because he’s absolutely entitled to share his perspective, but hopefully this chapter is closed. Mensah has had his say, Manny Diaz has had his, and Pat Narduzzi felt compelled to chime in as well. Now that everyone has gotten their complaints off their chests, it’s time to turn toward training camp and the season ahead.
Mensah also needs to do his part in putting an end to further inquiries about his transfer. People are going to believe what they want, and the Hurricanes have been on the receiving end of plenty of outside criticism over the last fifty years, so this kind of scrutiny is nothing foreign to the program. Even though Mensah is piling unnecessary expectations onto himself, he’ll manage just fine.
Duke is scheduled to visit Hard Rock this season, and that November 14th matchup falls right after the Hurricanes face Notre Dame, so if there were ever a potential trap game on the calendar, that would be it.
With fewer than 50 days remaining until Miami takes the field on Friday night against Stanford, every topic worth covering has been covered. Training camp is set to begin in about two weeks, and I anticipate that every member of the Hurricanes Mensah included will be fully focused and ready to go.
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